Confession
by littledoggy
Summary: After Persona threatened to kill the people closest to him. Natsume finally cracked. ONESHOT


Hello! Like my other fan-fictions, this one just popped into my head all of a sudden and I couldn't resist the urge to describe it in a story. Sorry if this bores you to tears ya? Gomen nasai!

**SUMMARY**

After Persona threatens to kill the people closest to him, Natsume finally cracked.

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Dedicated to **SnowMirage** since she likes mushy moments. (Though is this one-shot mushy? I don't know) Enjoy!

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. Simple as that.**

**Confession**

',',

"I cannot let you get too attached to someone," Persona said calmly. "Look at the consequences of your actions! You hesitated to kill the man, and he used the situation as an opportunity to hurt you! You're growing weaker, Black Cat."

"Finished yet?" Natsume drawled. His mask still covered his face, hiding his ruby red eyes that were currently inflamed with anger.

"I told you not to attach yourself to anyone, Black Cat. I'll kill those who dared come closer to you."

"…." Behind the mask, Natsume's eyes roared to life and narrowed into slits. Persona looked and sounded really serious this time.

"This is the price for disobeying my order."

Natsume snarled inaudibly then jumped up into the huge boughs of a tree and started leaping from one branch to another. His mind dwelled worriedly on Persona's words.

_I'll kill those who dared come closer to you._

The young boy groaned and continued on his way back to his room. _I must save them._

',',

Natsume screamed and hurled his mask at the wall. The impact didn't even make a dent in it, much less crack it. The cat mask lay on the floor face up, the two slits for eyes glaring emptily at him.

"Damn you Persona! I hate you!" he huffed and fell onto his huge poster bed. A searing pain shot up his arm and he groaned softly. How could he have forgotten?

Slowly, he sat up on his bed. An angry crimson patch was on his snow-white blankets, a tribute to his unattended wound. _Crap, I forgot._

He stood up and took a roll of bandages from the first-aid kit he had. Applying some antiseptic to the nasty gash on his arm, he could not suppress a cry of pain. The cotton touching his raw flesh felt like daggers poking into him.

Finally the treacherous task was complete and he fell down, exhausted, onto his bed, carefully avoiding the patch stained with his blood. Persona's words chose that moment to ring eerily in his mind.

_I'll kill those who dared come closer to you._

Natsume scowled and punched his pillow. It hardly did anything to ease his worry. Who would Persona target this time? Aoi might be in his clutches, but Persona would not be able to control him any more if Aoi was dead. On the other hand, how would he know if imotou was dead or not?

_No idea. No idea at all._

',',

"KYAAAA! I'm late!" Mikan cried frantically as she rushed out of her room, books disarrayed in her arms. "Latelatelate…"

_BUMP!_

She keeled over and landed on her butt, hard. "Itai…" she moaned.

A hiss did not escape her ears, however, and she turned to see the one and only Hyuuga Natsume on the floor beside her. Upon closer inspection she saw that he was cradling his right arm.

"Gomen nasai," she apologized, holding out her hand for him to grasp. To her immense surprise, he knocked it away.

"Go away baka," he growled, ruby red eyes narrowed dangerously. Mikan was about to retort when she saw some crimson liquid staining his uniform.

"Natsume-kun! You're hurt!" she exclaimed, reaching out to hold his arm. He hissed in pain when her fingers brushed against his wound, flaming eyes following the brunette warily. With a huge effort, he jerked his arm away, mindful of the indignant pain he received from his arm at being treated so harshly.

"I'm not repeating this, baka. Go. Away."

Mikan threw him a scared look and scuttled away, her books already back in her arms. Natsume watched her go rather reluctantly.

After rounding a corner, Mikan halted in surprise. _Hey, Natsume-kun didn't call me by my panty-prints today!_ Glancing down at her newly bought wristwatch, she gasped in surprise.

_8.05?! _"_NANI?_"

',',

An angry blur dashed past surprised students towards the Northern Woods. Natsume gnashed his jaws and entered the forest, the brown trunks and green shrubbery rushing past him.

He howled loudly and punched a tree. He had a restless sleep last night, his dreams plagued by Persona's disgusting voice.

_You hesitated to kill the man, and he used the situation as an opportunity to hurt you!_

_You're growing weaker, Black Cat._

_I'll kill those who dared come closer to you._

"I won't let you!" he cried desperately, sinking his fist into the unrelenting bark of a tree. Flames burst forth from his hand and demolished the poor tree very effectively. One by one more trees fell, reduced to heaps of ashes on the forest floor.

Natsume screamed in frustration and slammed his hand onto the ground, breathing heavily. His ears picked up the sound of fast approaching footsteps and he scrambled to his feet, cautiously awaiting the source of the sound.

To his immense surprise, all his classmates came storming over to where he was standing, panting heavily.

"What are you doing here?" Natsume shot coldly at them. Many flinched and halted in their tracks.

"W-We heard someone scream from the field, so we came here to investigate," Yuu stuttered timidly. "Was it y-you?"

"…Stay away from me."

"Why did you yell? We thought someone was hurt!" Mikan said indignantly, dropping down to sit on the mossy forest ground. Around her several of her friends did the same.

"Why do you care?"

"Who cares? As long as my Natsume is okay, that's enough for me!" Sumire said snobbishly. "Natsume…!" She ran towards the boy and opened her arms to hug him.

"Stop it Shouda!" Ruka yelled desperately, seeing the murderous glare Natsume sent her. She ignored him and continued running towards her crush.

"Nat -"

_WHOOSH._

"I told you to stay away from me!" Natsume screamed, his ruby red eyes narrowed into slits. His hair was blown back as fire erupted from his hands to create a wall of flames that surrounded him. Sumire shrieked and backed away.

"Scram."

That did it. His classmates turned around and ran for their lives, trying to get as far as they could, away from the boy. He watched them resentfully. Seeing them turning away from him really hurt.

"Hotaru, where are you?" Mikan called desperately, her brown eyes trained warily on the crouching boy before her. His murderous glare was enough to send shivers down her spine. "_Hotaru!_"

She whimpered a little when she realized that she was alone. All alone with Hyuuga Natsume, who was currently looking murderous. Whoever pissed him off would _definitely_ be roasted.

Mikan started to take a step backwards, retreating from the boy's hunched form. Further and further she went, until she was a good ten feet away from him. Finally, she turned around and prepared herself to sprint away like the rest of her classmates.

"Don't go," a hoarse voice said. She froze and gulped. Uh oh…

',',

Natsume felt his mask crumbling and breaking. Seeing his friends back away fearfully from him really sliced him up inside. It stung. It stung badly, more than all that pain and loneliness he had experienced before. The afternoon sun shone down, creating a shadow where something blocked its way down to the ground. Something moving. Something…alive. A huge wave of relief numbed his pain somewhat when he realized that one of his friends stayed behind.

His eyes widened in shock when he lifted his head to see the person. He could recognize those pigtails anywhere. The person who had stayed behind was no other than Sakura Mikan, the klutz who always got into trouble with Jin-Jin yet managed to capture everyone's hearts. Yes, everyone. Including the dashing fire handler himself.

"Hotaru, where are you?" she called. "_Hotaru!_" Upon seeing no one, she whimpered and started to back away. Natsume watched her with fading hope. No, she would shun him as well. She was no different from the others…

Just as she turned around to flee, his mask fell apart, leaving him bare and exposed for the world to see. Seeing the girl backing away from him ripped his heart into countless little pieces. He did not know why, but her desire to depart had a great impact on him. Pride dissolved into nothing, as did the mask that had concealed his emotions for so long.

It revealed a child abandoned and ignored since the mishap that razed his village. A child who took the blame for something he had not done. And now, he craved friendship. A bond with someone, _anyone,_ as long as he could lean on him or her as his pillar of strength. All this burst forth from beneath the mask that held so much sorrow and despair.

"Don't go," he whispered huskily. He saw Mikan tense and halt in her steps. A flicker of hope rose in his chest and he struggled to control it. It would do him no good to hope, only to allow it to die again with each retreating step the brunette took.

Still, he could see her hesitating. He could not afford to let her slip away from him.

"Please…" he pleaded, not caring that he was begging to the very girl whom he teased every day. He felt so…helpless and empty.

Mikan shivered a little, debating whether to turn back or run away. Natsume's quiet plea shocked her. Natsume…pleading? It didn't sound right. Yet here he was, asking, no, saying '_please_' to her! She heard a faint sob behind her. Taking a small peek over her shoulder, she gasped softly. She saw a shaking boy, looking thoroughly broken, with all hopes dashed. A face that had hardly knew what it feels like to smile or laugh peeked out beneath dark blue-black bangs. The pale face of an innocent child who bore the burden of the world on his shoulders. She would not have known the crouching boy for Hyuuga Natsume, the boy with a cold attitude who seldom mingled with his classmates, had she not seen the change in attitude herself.

"Mikan…please, come back…" Natsume bowed his head in defeat, his bangs covering his eyes. He could hold it in no longer. All the agony, all the anguish, all the _suffering_ he had endured for years finally took its toll, breaking through his defenses and shattering the remnants of the mask.

A single tear ran down his cheek, leaving a wet trail behind. More tears racked his body, though the boy kept silent, biting his lip to stop himself from expressing his disappointment. No one was willing to stay with him because he was dangerous…the wielder of fire. Deadly tongues of flame. Natsume never hated his alice more than he did at the moment.

Something brushed gently against his cheek, pushing his hair away in the process. Natsume looked up in surprise. Mikan was crouching before him, a soft smile on her face.

"I'm here," she murmured, wiping the tears off his face with one finger. "Don't cry."

"Mi-kan," he whispered brokenly. Natsume made a move to come closer to her but hesitated. Would she allow him to come near her? Or would she push him away, like what his friends had done?

As if she had read his mind, Mikan smiled reassuringly and opened her arms. "Come here."

And come he did. Suppressing a sob of joy and relief, Natsume came closer to her and succumbed to her warm embrace. His own skinny arms snaked around her slim body and pulled her into a tight hug. Burying his face into her chest, a sense of peace flooded him thoroughly, washing away the worry and the darkness he had been enveloped in.

For the first time in many years, Natsume broke down completely, his mask of indifference cast aside.

',',

Mikan's heart melted when she heard Natsume begging, _begging_ her to stay behind, to share his pain and suffering he had endured and bottled up within himself. His choice of words was spoken with such a dejected, heart wrenching tone that it pulled at her heartstrings.

_Poor Natsume…he must've suffered a lot if he was_ that _desperate for any affection or friendship,_ she realized. The boy before her was Natsume without his imperious mask, a young, lonely boy who was deprived of his freedom because of what he possessed. The deadly alice of fire.

When he bowed his head as the flame of hope inside him dimmed, Mikan swore she heard a soft sob escape the boy's lips. The years of suffering must've really gotten to him at last, forcing him to open up and let his emotions out.

She crept closer to him, all caution thrown to the wind. Mikan watched a teardrop swell then tip off the edge of his ruby red eyes with growing surprise. Slowly, she extended a hand to push his unruly hair aside.

The look on Natsume's face was priceless. She had never seen anything like it before. It portrayed fear, apprehension, surprise and gratitude all rolled into one. She would not have dreamt of seeing such an expression at all, much less coming from one of the two coldest persons in the Alice Academy.

Mikan sighed to herself as she examined Natsume's face. Now that his mask was off, she could see the real Natsume shining out of it. This Natsume showed his emotions on his face very clearly indeed. Somehow, it made him look more innocent, and it enhanced his already striking features even more. He looked like a child. At the same time, she had not seen anyone so…broken.

She dimly saw him hesitate when he tried to reach out to her. He seemed to be hungry for affection, lapping up every drop he received eagerly. Mikan smiled slightly and opened her arms.

"Come here," she murmured, inviting him to come. Still Natsume didn't move. _Oh well. I guess he doesn't want to come close to a baka like –_

She was surprised by a pair of skinny arms around her waist. Natsume had crept closer to her and was returning her embrace. It felt…nice. Mikan smiled gently and closed her arms around the frail-looking boy, caressing his hair. Natsume sobbed and buried his head in her chest. She allowed him to do it, bringing him closer to her own body, sharing her warmth with him.

Like two halves joined to become one, the boy and the girl sat there, shielded from prying eyes, left to share their precious moment together in peace. Mikan ran her hand over his hair, admiring its silkiness and the way it seemed to hang casually down over his pale face.

Natsume's crying became less violent, his bottled-up feelings finally free. He gripped Mikan tightly, unwilling to let go of the girl. A strong desire rose in his chest. He obeyed it eagerly and looked up into the girl's beautiful brown eyes.

"Mikan," he whispered passionately, locking his ruby red eyes with her brown orbs. "Mikan…I tried. I tried to push you away, really I did. But then I realized…realized that while I succeeded in pushing the rest away, I…I could not bear to lose you."

Mikan's warm smile was more than enough to pay the price of his confession. It brightened the atmosphere in his bleak life, bringing light into the darkness within.

"This is about Persona, isn't it?" she murmured softly, a blush creeping up her cheeks. Natsume managed a small grin and nodded.

"T-That's why I didn't want any of you to come closer to me than you already have," he said. "I didn't want Persona to hunt you down because of me."

"Oh, Natsume. Stop being so self-centred," Mikan exclaimed earnestly. "No one asked you to shoulder the burden alone."

The fire handler looked up at her in confusion, his head resting on her chest. Mikan's head was bent down, so their gazes were locked blissfully once more. Silence reigned for a short moment before being shattered by Natsume.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll share it with you."

"W-What? Mikan, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Natsume protested desperately.

"I know, Natsume, I know. Yet I won't leave you. Don't push me away. Please," she begged, her chocolate brown eyes pleading.

Silence. Then -

"Do shite?"

"Because…I…I l-lo -"

Natsume lifted his head several inches off her chest so that their noses touched. Her eyes widened and she faltered.

"Because you…?"

"I l-lo…l-"

Natsume grinned and kissed her lightly on the lips. She was too surprised to respond.

"Arigato Mikan," he murmured drowsily and plopped back onto her chest, nearly throwing her off balance. A great feeling of happiness spread to his fingertips at having achieving his heart's desire. "Arigato…"

"I love you," she whispered, tracing her lips with a finger. It tingled pleasantly where his lips had met hers. "I love you…Hyuuga Natsume."

_Thank you for accepting me into your life,_ both thought.

Yes, they were willing to go through all the hardships that came with their relationship together. Even when it jeopardizes their lives.

_You are worth it._

….

Yay! It's done! I'll admit that I had fun typing this story, but I was not too sure about the ending. Was it okay? Please tell me!

Review, ne? The reviews for my previous one-shot (**_Never Change_**) was what spurred me to write this chapter. So, if you review this one, I might be in a good enough mood to write more. It also depends whether I have any more ideas or not.

Well, ja ne! I'll leave the choice of reviewing in your hands. But if you want more, do review!!! (Though I warn you, I'm no good at romance…)


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